360 episodes

For 17 years, Pastor Resources has been serving those who serve the church. By presenting resources to pastors from like-minded organizations, as well as providing guidance from proven leaders in ministry, we connect pastors with the tools they need to succeed.

The JCA Company was founded on the principle that the revival and renewal of the church in America is vital. We hope to be used as an instrument to catalyze that movement.

Pastor Resources Podcast Pastorresources.com

    • Religion & Spirituality
    • 3.0 • 2 Ratings

For 17 years, Pastor Resources has been serving those who serve the church. By presenting resources to pastors from like-minded organizations, as well as providing guidance from proven leaders in ministry, we connect pastors with the tools they need to succeed.

The JCA Company was founded on the principle that the revival and renewal of the church in America is vital. We hope to be used as an instrument to catalyze that movement.

    It’s Your Turn to Re-envision God

    It’s Your Turn to Re-envision God

    I think I used to see God working in my life very linearly. I kind of saw God as someone who coached me along my journey, and if I screwed up too badly, he would replace me with someone better. Then one day, while reading Lewis’s Mere Christianity, I realized God is timeless. God was not just going through life linearly with me, God also saw my life from above the timeline. God had chosen to walk with me, even though he knew I would mess it all up at various points along the way. I think I saw God as someone I had to keep going up the mountain to find. Then I realized God, seeing all of my timeline, had already chosen to come down the mountain to me. I saw God as angry, or at least someone willing to get angry quickly if you didn’t keep him happy. I didn’t realize God is accessible. God seeks, God finds, and God knocks. You don’t have to find God because the story is God find...

    Adapted from It’s Not Your Turn by Heather Thompson Day. Copyright (c) 2021 by Heather Thompson Day. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com

    • 4 min
    Filling The Pit

    Filling The Pit

    Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. - Psalm 139:23-24 (NLT)

    Have you ever stopped to think about WHY the Psalmist had to ask God to search his heart and thoughts; to point out anything that offends?  I mean, they are his thoughts after all, so why would he – or any of us – need God search to our hearts and minds?

    Let me explain it with an example...

    Picture a tiger trap, like in the old “Tarzan” movies.  You dig a pit, line it with spikes, and you’re all set, right?  Not exactly!  You have a hole filled with painful things, but you need to cover it!  So, you grab sticks and leaves, whatever you can find, to cover the hole and make it unrecognizable!  It LOOKS the same as everything else around it, but it’s not!

    Now, how many of you would volunteer to run down the path and over the trap?  Not many, right?  When the covering gives way, what’s underneath is going to hurt...very, very badly…

    But what does this have to do with the verses in Psalms?  A lot of us have pain in our past; trauma or critical events that have ripped painful holes in our lives.  When this happens, we have two choices:

    Barry Rudesill is a Pastor, speaker, and co-creator of The Trek. (www.thetrek.org)

    • 4 min
    5 Low - Cost, High - Impact Church Renovations For The Summer

    5 Low - Cost, High - Impact Church Renovations For The Summer

    Regular church maintenance is important for keeping your facilities in working order. Beyond annual cleaning and repairs, it’s also nice to spruce up your building with occasional renovations. 

    Maybe your budget is a little tight right now, but you’d still like to make some updates to your church. Here are five low-cost projects that will make a big impact for your members and visitors.

    1. Update Paint Colors

    When was the last time you painted your church interior? Do the colors even fit in with your current branding? Adding a new coat of paint or changing the paint color is an inexpensive project that goes a long way. To save even more money, get volunteers to help rather than hiring professional painters.

    2. Install New Flooring

    Flooring can become stained, faded, and outdated over the years. Switch things up with a new style. Take it a step further by changing the flooring material. For example, if you have carpet in your sanctuary, try out a spill-resistant tile instead. Coordinate the style with the wall colors and sanctuary accessories for a unified look.


    Dr. Tom McElheny has served as an elder and director of Christian education for three Sarasota, Florida, churches, holds advanced degrees in business and education, and is CEO of his church seating company, ChurchPlaza.

    • 4 min
    Leaning Toward Unity

    Leaning Toward Unity

    Outrage. Perhaps no other word better captures the spirit of our times, the wildfire in society that keeps roaring back with more and more fuel. It can deplete all our energy for quieter work, draw us away from the still small voice of God, and seem impossible to overcome. It spreads from social conflict to interpersonal relationships, disrupting community in the home, church, and workplace. How can pastors help their congregations reimagine a way forward, one that hammers their swords into plowshares (Isaiah 2:4, nlt) and leads to lasting unity?

    Eugene Peterson translates those Isaiah verses further by stating, “He will show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made (The Message).” The way we’re made. Yes—we are designed to heal, not to fester in our wounds. We are meant to be made whole through Christ and his church. One way God shows us how he works is in the way he created our physical selves. Our bodies have simple yet elegant systems in place to promote restoration and recovery, rather than rupture and limitation, when we are wounded. Can we live the way we’re made by following the example of the body, made in the image of God? Might this be particularly appropriate for Christian community as we are called the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27, nlt)?

    In Designed to Heal, we encounter the persistent, orderly stages of physical wound healing. Clotting, inflammation, new growth, and return to function—even if through scarring—are portrayed through poignant patient stories illustrating each phase of healing. Chapters reflect how a particular aspect of physical healing can be a model for relational healing. 

    Inflammation, it turns out, is a necessary and helpful process. After clotting comes to the rescue, inflammatory cells get to work cleaning up the wound site. Just the right amount of pressure is applied by their work to prevent further damage. They identify debris that doesn’t belong and swallow it up. But then they get out of the way so new growth can begin. If the inflammatory stage goes awry and those cells don’t get a clear signal to stop their work, good tissue gets hurt. Healing stops.

     Jennie A. McLaurin is a writer and physician with degrees in medicine, public health, and theology. Her book, Designed to Heal: What the Body Shows Us about Healing Wounds, Repairing Relationships, and Restoring Community (coauthored with Cymbeline T. Culiat), releases in August 2021.

    • 4 min
    How You Can Read and Understand the Bible

    How You Can Read and Understand the Bible

    THE BIBLE REMAINS the bestselling book of all time. You may well have one hidden away somewhere in your house yourself. But while the Bible continues to sell incredibly well, it is often not read.

    In many cases, this is not for lack of trying. Begin at the beginning— which sounds perfectly logical—and you may soon become bogged down in the laws of Exodus and Leviticus, the second and third books of the Bible, wondering what on earth they have to do with your life today. And so the Bible returns to its shelf, leaving you discouraged and feeling like you could never understand this strange book, as much as you would like to.

    Why then read the Bible? To some the Bible is the basis for the largest religion in the world, Christianity, while for others it has been so influential historically that we need to be aware of it as literature if we are to understand our history. Still others seek to understand God and his relationship to the world. They wonder if God could possibly know or care about what is happening on earth and in our lives. To still others it is the book they meditate on to be instructed by and addressed by God, who has revealed himself particularly in Jesus Christ.

    Adapted from The 30-Minute Bible by Craig G. Bartholomew and Paige P. Vanosky. Copyright (c) 2021 by Paige P. Vanosky and Craig G. Bartholomew. Published by InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL. www.ivpress.com

    • 4 min
    Lessons Of The Lockdown

    Lessons Of The Lockdown

    The term "lockdown," is now associated with the attempt to slow or stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  The virus is real, the risks are real, and the lessons learned from the lockdowns are real.  

    Some of the lessons learned were intended, others were not.  There is legitimate debate about the efficacy of the lockdown, the wearing of masks, and social distancing.  One thing is not debatable, the lessons learned are real, but many of the unintended lessons may be the most real, and the most unsettling.

    For example, we have learned that:

    Infants and small children have difficulty processing emotions and perceptions without the benefit of full facial expressions,
    Children deprived of diverse social interactions do not develop as healthy interpersonal skills as children participating in actual group settings,
    A virtual world is a flat-screen world without the depth of experience filled with the normal nuances of human life,
    Personal isolation can quickly morph into feelings of distress, distrust, and fear with real harmful psychological and physiological consequences,
    People can be divided into two classes, those who comply, and those who do not.  Those who comply care about others, and those  who do not are a threat,
    The elderly, infirm and otherwise physically vulnerable can be protected from friends, and family for their so-called "own good," to the point that they live and even die essentially in isolation from the very thing they need most - the presence of the ones they love,
    When people die, there is no obligation for a full funeral.  A small group of essential personnel can perform a truncated (or online) service, 
    Cremation is a cost-saving, and efficient way to dispose of the body,

    • 5 min

Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5
2 Ratings

2 Ratings

Top Podcasts In Religion & Spirituality

The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Ascension
The Bible Recap
Tara-Leigh Cobble
Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast
Hank Smith & John Bytheway
Joel Osteen Podcast
Joel Osteen, SiriusXM
The Catechism in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz)
Ascension
Girls Gone Bible
Girls Gone Bible